Ask HN: How did you build your current work ethic?
In all of my reading of motivational literature and other productivity related material, I have never seen a concrete method of maintaining a sustainable work ethic. Most books/essays/articles I've read have mostly broached this topic with methods to improve your productivity, however they all skim over a holistic approach of how to actually get work done.
Furthermore, since the audience on HN is diverse, I thought it would be very interesting to see how people deal with stress or other distractions in their day to day life, and how they actually formed their work ethic (from being a kid who does not produce "work" to an adult who does both enjoyable work as well as the typical "grunt" work). (As a young adult who has now been in university for two years, it seems like the work ethic cultivated here is mostly organic in nature, and could definitely benefit with insight on experiences of current working professionals.)
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[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 16.7 ms ] threadI basically work whenever I feel like it. Obviously if I'm on a tight deadline, I just work till I'm done (putting your phone in airplane mode helps). While I try to work on a regular schedule, I've only found it to be counter-productive. Let me give you a recent example.
I was working on creating an email template for a local startup and wasn't really in to it. I opened up Hacker News and read a couple posts and saw the Vinod Khosla interview with Sergey Brin and Larry Page. I watched the longish (45 minutes) video and went back to work.
About half an hour later, I got into a really nice flow and finished my two day project in about 3 hours.
It's much easier for me because I'm in college right now and the library is only a few steps away from my dorm, so the activation energy isn't as great. But I've found that I get very self-conscious about what's on my screen if I move to an open spot in the library where people can see my laptop screen as they walk by. What also helps is seeing my friends be productive; it pushes me to begin work as well.
An unintended benefit of constantly going to libraries or cafes to work is that it makes me separate my work from my dorm room, which is advantageous in itself. Returning to my room now allows me to put my work behind me and truly relax, something that hadn't really been possible before. Of course, all this is psychological, but I find it really helps me.
I became highly self-motivated at 21 because I was a dropout & knew I had to be better than my degreed peers to get an equally good job. It was either go to college, then get some crappy job as a teacher, or find an area of programming so challenging that it scared other programmers (back then, it was embedded systems and compiler implementation).
Ever since I decided at 21 to become a programmer (despite having absolutely no tech background) I have studied for my next job while I'm working the current one. At 34 Microsoft hired me with no resume despite the fact that I was old and the last thing I graduated from was middle school.
One thing I always keep in mind is this: are there people dumber than I am doing better than I am in whatever I happen to be doing at the moment? If the answer is yes, then I know I can be just as successful simply by working as hard as I need to until I'm as good as they are, or maybe a little better.
Have been CEO of my own company for 14 years now, but continue to study current programming practices and to do interesting projects with them. No matter what job I have had, no matter how good, I have always operated under the assumption I could lose it all tomorrow, and that I would be facing stiff competition for jobs.
I avoided Silicon Valley because it was too much of a pressure cooker. Instead I lived in more laid back areas that still had some tech presence. This let me live a moderately balanced life despite essentially working 2 jobs at all times. Had I gone to Silicon Valley I knew, even in the late 80s, I would be slave to an 80 hour-per-week job and end up, in all likelihood, with nothing to show for it.
I read the industry and business press carefully from afar & kept a close eye on what was doing well and where the market was underserved. I tried to match my skills to holes in the market. My approach can be scary because I have to take on more risk, but the rewards have been better.
Because of this I invested lots in Microsoft stock in the late 90s when everyone said they were dead. Their past, and their P/Ls, said something very different. The stock I owned went up 1300% during this time because everyone else, including Microsofties, was trying to get out if it. (I exited at the peak.) This money helped me invest in the business I own now. It was also a risky buy at the bottom of a market.
I have more than one paid-for house and no debt but I still keep up my skills.
Though my income is very good, even in my 50s I am ready to work as a developer or architect if my company shuts down tomorrow.